Middlesbrough misfit on his way to Turkey

07 Jul 2011 10:00:00

KRIS BOYD will end a nightmare spell on Teesside if he signs for Turkish side Eskisehirspor this week.
KRIS BOYD will end a nightmare spell on Teesside if he signs for Turkish side Eskisehirspor this week.
The former Rangers striker is in Turkey talking over a move with the Super Lig side, and should he agree terms it would allow Boro boss Tony Mowbray to dip his toes in the transfer market for the first time this summer.
Boyd failed to settle in Middlesbrough after becoming Gordon Strachan's marquee signing last summer, and with a salary that the club can ill afford, was quickly earmarked as a player to ship out in the summer.
The 27-year-old scored six goals before spending a month on loan at Nottingham Forest, where six strikes in ten starts helped Forest into the play-offs.
However, the departure of Forest manager Billy Davies ended any chances of Boyd signing on permanently, and Boro have had to endure a quiet summer with no players coming in until one of the big-money earners move out.
It appears that Eskisehirspor have money at their disposal and are willing to at least match Boyd's Boro salary in order to seal the deal. Boyd would join former Fulham man Diomansy Kamara at the Ataturk Stadium after the striker signed a three-year contract last week.
With just over a month to go until the Championship begins, Mowbray is running out of time in his bid to build a squad capable of promotion into the Premier League.
Mowbray takes his squad next week for a fitness camp in the north-east of Slovenia, which will be supplemented by games against two top-flight Turkish sides and one from Croatia.
The first game is on Thursday July 14, when Boro take on Istanbul BB FC in the Stojnci Stadium, Markovci, to the south-east of Maribor.
They follow that with a trip to northern Croatia to take on Varteks Varazdin in Varazdin on July 17.
The final game is on July 19 against Turkish outfit Antalyaspor in Dravograd, which is to the north-east of the capital, Ljubljana. All games kick-off at 6pm.
Boro fly out on July 13 and return July 21, two days before the first of three friendly games in this country, at Darlington on Saturday, July 23, kick-off 3pm.
Their next game is away to Carlisle on Tuesday, July 26, with a 7.45pm kick-off, before they conclude their warm-up programme against Dutch side PSV Eindhoven at the Riverside Stadium on Friday July 29, also at 7.45pm.